All 171 entries tagged Warwick

University Hospital & The Community

The last two weeks have covered the first two weeks of Core Clinical Education 2 (CCE2), and my placement has been at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW). UHCW is the main teaching hospital for Warwick Medical School, and is the largest hospital in the region, also encompassing a major trauma centre. One of our named consultants is a renal/kidney doctor, and we went to one of the renal outpatient clinics. The majority of patients attend for routine monitoring of kidney damage, with the majority of causes of this being due to diabetes and heart issues. This provides some good revision of our heart failure and diabetes learning and just goes to prove that no area of medicine is an island – everything is connected! And I thought we were attending just a kidney clinic!

On Tuesday, we taught our last student seminar of the term, and the last before the Easter holidays for the first years. The first years have a month off for Easter, then 5 weeks of Block 5, and then their exams. The exams are definitely looming large in many of their minds, with about 2 months to go before the end of year 1 exams. We did some teaching on getting the most from revision, and also offered some reassurance that everything will be okay! I remember being in the same position this time last year, and how worried I was about the exams. Our focus was mostly on getting a good work-life balance over Easter – it is key revision time, but also the last time off they will get before exams, so it is so important to also have some down time.

We have also had a couple of community days over the last two weeks, where we went into the community to learn about how patients are managed in care homes, GP surgeries and in their homes. The first community day was focussed on clinical audit, with teaching sessions on how to do a clinical audit, which we will be doing with our GP practices throughout CCE2. Clinical audits are activities in which we will be involved for the rest of our working lives, no matter what area we go into, so its good to have some focused teaching on this now. In addition, if we present audit findings at conferences etc, this stands us in good stead when applying for jobs. Unbelievably, our first jobs as doctors are little over two years away – and I’m sure this time will fly by in the blink of an eye!

Our second community day involved a patient visit to a brain injury unit, which was a really valuable learning experience in terms of how brain injury patients are cared for in the community. It really made me think about my own life too, and about the things that I value and reminded me that it is really important to enjoy life as you go by. It is so easy when very busy to not take notice of small things - the small victories and valued experiences with family and friends. Medicine sometimes makes you really appreciate your own life and I think this is one of the empowering aspects of meeting so many different people. It can be quite a cool career really!

Jordan

Charlie Gallan : 21 Mar 2019 12:48 |  Tags: Jordan Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Goodbye Block 4, Hello Easter “break”

This week we did our final Phase One community day. It was a bittersweet day as although I will miss our tutors and how beautiful the town is, I won’t miss doing the presentations nor the rain which seemed to appear each day we went to Stratford. Our tutors have been lovely, and it was always nice heading back to the base to see them after a long day and discussing how our days with the patients and other representatives have been. They have always managed to get interesting patients and gave us some incredible feedback. I was told that my communication skills were good and for someone who isn’t exactly wired to be amazing at this, I was rather pleased!

We have also had to submit our first clinical case reports which was slightly nerve-racking as there was an essay element to it meaning I had to drag out the skill of writing academic essays from the depths of dissertation land as I have only really been writing in bullet points since September! However, I strangely enjoyed doing this as I got to direct my own learning and find out more of an area of care which intrigued me. I ended up writing about the use of fibrinolytic therapy as pre-hospital medicine and I hope that I will be able to use this new information next year (if I pass my exams). I found out this is mostly what clinical learning consists off after having seen the year 2 resources, so I am looking forward to being able to direct my own learning next year (if I pass my exams).

We also had the deans breakfast this week which I was intrigued about as I had to miss the last one due to illness. I very nearly missed this one as I had woken up at 6:30 am so I could get ready and amble up to the med school, only to have had a nap and ended up waking up at 7:30. I’ve never been so grateful to be living on campus where I could throw on some (less crumpled) clothes and leg it up the hill. Essentially, we have breakfast with the dean (which I suppose is self-explanatory) and a couple of senior staff such as Colin McDougall and we were encouraged to chat about what is going well and what isn’t. We were all keen to mention that having Wednesday off has been a blessing as it has meant we have had some room to breathe and catch up so hopefully, this will continue for the year below us. We also suggested about trying to get some of the main campus services to the Med School such as food from Rootes etc. as we just don’t have the time to be wandering down to campus and back and eat the food in the lunch break we have and it would be nice to have some choice as to what we have for lunch up here.

Despite the windy weather now, we have also had some beautiful sun which we all took full advantage of by sitting out in the sunshine working on our notes and actively learning about Vitamin D and UV rays. We suggested that we could have a (non-alcoholic drinks of course) bar on the Med School balcony and call it the Guillain-Barre. We could also have “The Grubby Goose” but I prefer the former. On that day, I also met with my fellow Warwick MedLife blogger Jordan to discuss our slides for the upcoming Open Days. It was finally nice to put a face to a name and I like to way our PowerPoint is looking, a touch of fear followed by a wave of “it’s all going to be ok”.

I am feeling a bit calmer about exams and revision than I was the other week, but you can tell the apprehension is building in the year. We ran a Tea and Empathy society this week and the topic on everyone’s minds was what they are going to do over Easter, and how they were going to revise. I think I have had an idea, but I have also been asking the year above us what tips they have, I just have to keep telling myself that I can learn it – and not start panicking. I have so many plans for the second year, so I am going to try my hardest to not have to retake and continue my medical education. I think we are all worried in some way or another about not making it to next year, but we have Easter break for revision and tonne of support we can access.

We can do this guys !

Abbie

Charlie Gallan : 14 Mar 2019 08:43 |  Tags: Abbie Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Goodbye George Eliot, until next we meet

The end of CCE 1 is upon the second years and I for one cannot believe it. It seems like 5 minutes ago I was writing my blog at Christmas talking about starting CCE and how different my life was going to be as a clinical phase medical student. For that reason, I think this is quite a good juncture to pause and take stock of how CCE 1 has been for me!

First of all, the final weeks of CCE 1 (weeks 9 & 10). As mentioned in the previous blog, we have spent these final weeks doing our audit in George Eliot Hospital into surgical complications. Basically, the audit involves finding out the operation lists for each day and then finding the patient after surgery and going through the notes, looking for complications and consequences of surgery. We have been incredibly busy doing the audit over the last few weeks – staying in hospital until 10:30pm one evening going through hundreds of pages of medical notes and making sure our data collection was accurate. I won’t say it hasn’t been challenging, because it has been extremely exhausting! At the same time though, having done the audit is great experience and has taught us lots about abdominal surgeries and types of surgical incisions (interesting, if not immediately useful!). This week I also had to apply to do my research project for next year. I will (hopefully!) be doing something to do with bereavement care in the UK – watch this space!

Coming to the end of CCE 1 means we are a third of the way through our Core Clinical Education, so it is also a good time to stop and think and take stock of what I’ve learned about both medicine and myself this block at George Eliot Hospital. My statistics for CCE 1:

- 10 weeks (January to March)
- 4 supervising consultants (2 cardiologists, 1 respiratory doctor and 1 anaesthetist)
- 9-10 bloods taken
- 4 clinical skills labs (acute assessment, blood gases, oxygen masks, cannulation)
- 7 days spent with our GP practice
- 9 workshops (on topics ranging from fever to weight loss)
- 5 academic days
- 1 clinical partner – Cliona
- Lots of awkwardly standing on the wards trying to make eye contact!

Coming to the end of my placement at George Eliot Hospital is bittersweet. We did our very first clinical experiences in first year at this hospital and has been here ever since (about 16 months – our entire medical degree until this point). All of my stream really have started our medical careers here at George Eliot and created great relationships with the undergraduate staff and education team alike. I think they’ve seen us grow from nervous first year students into slightly less nervous, and slightly more competent second year medical students! George Eliot is a smallish hospital, but it will be the first of many hospitals in my medical career, and I think for that reason, I’ll always be a little bit fond of it. Next week I’m off to University Hospital Coventry, which is the main teaching hospital for the University of Warwick, and this will bring different challenges, but is also really exciting in the wider range of specialities we will get a chance to see there. Until next time!

Jordan

Charlie Gallan : 08 Mar 2019 14:16 |  Tags: Jordan Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Anaesthesia, Audits

Over the last couple of weeks, I have busy getting stuck into my Anaesthetics block. This has mostly involved time in main theatres with the anaesthetists. We follow the patient journey through their operation, which was great as we saw the patient on the ward before the operation for their pre-operative assessment (to make sure they are fit for surgery), then in the anaesthetic room before surgery and then into theatre throughout the operation. The patients are understandably anxious before their surgery, and it was really nice to chat to them as they had their anaesthetic and hopefully distracted them from their anxiety (and the needles!), if only for a minute or two.

We saw some really interesting aspects of anaesthesia, including patients undergoing general anaesthetic (being sent to sleep), but also local anaesthetics and spinals (where an injection into the spinal cord directly numbs the nerve roots). I hadn’t really considered the fact that patient can undergo major surgeries with only spinal anaesthesia, meaning that they are awake throughout the procedure. I think more and more surgeries are being done in this way now, meaning that the risks and after effects of general anaesthesia can be avoided.

Another activity that I’ve been involved in recently is clinical audit. We have to do a research project as part of the course in third year (called Student Selected Component 2), but most students are also involved in additional audits or projects whilst studying. I think before I joined the course I hadn’t really considered anything other than getting onto the course itself and wasn’t really sure how to get involved in audits and the like or the value of doing these.

Students decide to take part for many reasons – prime amongst these is that an audit counts as extra “points” for foundation scheme places and thus makes you more likely to get the Foundation Doctor job that you want. As well as this, it gives you experience in research (essential aspects of a doctor’s career) and also gives you a chance to shape or contribute to improving patient care. Finding research projects isn’t too difficult – just chatting to some of the doctors that you meet during your placements anyway leads them to mention various projects they are involved in/want to start and most are very keen to get students on board to help with data collection.

One such chance encounter happened to me and my clinical partner whilst we were shadowing one of the doctors in anaesthetics, meaning that we are now involved in a project to look at complications post-surgery. We are involved in data collection, which involves looking at patient notes and recording details of the operation and then recording complications after the surgery has concluded. So far its been a very good experience of being involved in research and serves as good practice for reading patient notes to boot.

After a busy week, I definitely need a chance to unwind, and it so happens tonight is that chance. I’m part of the Teddy Bear Hospital Society and tonight we are holding a movie night for charity, and it happens to be a showing of The Greatest Showman – sing-along version! I’ve been rehearsing all week in preparation….

Jordan

Megan Earle : 04 Mar 2019 12:00 |  Tags: Anaesthesia Audits Mbchb Student Teddybearhospital Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Did someone say the E word?

Yes … they did. Today. In Anatomy. They counted how many days we had to go. My heart nearly stopped. I keep saying I will start my revision in March but now I realise that March is next week. Gulp. So, like any good student. I have chosen to put it off a bit more and distract myself with other things to do!

It really has been a busy couple of weeks with a lot going on. My clinical teaching this week brought a couple of firsts with one patient sticking in my mind. They had a cardiac condition to which I was able to hear my first heart murmur and felt heaves and thrills! This was incredible to see as we are taught about these things in clinical exams and we are so used to performing on each other that we forget what we are meant to be looking for so to see this in the clinic was unforgettable!

One major thing that has happened is that some of my year participated in some research regarding the use of VR in anatomy teaching. I was intrigued as I used some VR in my previous degree, and I am really struggling to pick the anatomy up this block so I wondered if it would help. There was a control and experimental group but both groups could use the VR once the experiment had ended. The kit was incredible in the fact you could manipulate the limb in so many ways including looking at each muscle’s individual movement. I could easily study from it and I really hope to see it come into teaching soon! I’m pretty sure it would have been a good giggle to record us using the VR set as a bunch of students, waving their arms around with massive headsets on would have been a sight to see.

I also had an event that I had signed myself up to in September not realising just how busy I was to become! This is the National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition held in Southampton. I genuinely love Neuroanatomy so I thought it would be a good challenge to learn some further anatomy and see how much I could remember from block three. It was an incredible day and I really enjoyed it, even though I couldn’t answer half the questions! An example is in block three we are expected to name the vessels in the Circle of Willis and not many more, here they had a pin pointing to a random artery peeking through the cerebral surface and a faint grey line on a Neuro Angiogram. Safe to say, I don’t think “Artery” alone quite cut it. However, when it did come to the block three material, I could recall most of it, so I am pleased with how I did! I can’t wait to go back next year, and I am aiming for Top 10. Currently, St. Georges seem to do brilliantly in this competition, so I am keen for Warwick to knock them off the top spot!

Obviously, another highlight was the free(ish) food (we had to pay to enter the comp) consisting of pastries the size of your hand and pizza… a lot of pizza. There were some stands from the BMA (from which I now have three bones pens and some pen torches) and we also managed to get a mug for one of the third years who couldn’t go… We love freebies!

Another thing that has happened was going over to my medic family/student seminar team house for tea. We normally don’t meet for student seminars the first week of every block, so we descended for an evening of pizza, games and just a much-needed night off. It was also nice to see my medic mum and uncle as with the second years now in full-time hospitals, we don’t see them that much. I also gained a new half-sibling as my student seminar pal announced she needed to be adopted so my student seminar teachers decided to adopt her. I am looking forward to next year (if I get back in – sorry I am superstitious, and I am not taking any chances) teaching and hopefully adopting some freshers as my medic kids …. Let’s just hope my cooking skills improve in time for Medic Family Tea!

Abbie

Megan Earle : 26 Feb 2019 14:57 |  Tags: Abbie Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem